Characteristics of effluents from
large
municipal wastewater treatment facilities in 1997
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ABSTRACT
The marine environment of the Southern California Bight (SCB) is used for a variety of recreational, commercial, municipal, and industrial purposes, each of which contributes varying amounts of contaminants to the ocean. This study summarizes constituent concentrations of effluents and constituent mass emissions from the large municipal wastewater facilities in 1997 and describes trends that have occurred in constituent emissions from these facilities over the past 26 years. Sixty-one percent of the constituents discharged to the SCB have declined more than 70% since 1971. However, several constituents at the individual wastewater treatment facilities have significantly increased from 1996 to 1997.